The Grange Strathmore Hotel

We couldn't fault the service, location, cleanliness or breakfast and would certainly strongly recommend it. The only slight downside was that the room was a little on the small side - although very well presented. The staff were excellent.

Very close to National History Museum, Science Museum and V&A.

the price was right for the location, but the hotel is long past a make over. chiped paint, dirty carpets, small slow elevator, no ac. good resturants within walking distance of hotel. victoria station just 3 stops away by tube and also close to a busy street with cars all night long .flat screens in room but bathroom had mold in the tub . staff was helpfull and frendly. no safes in the room . safe deposite box was located behind ck in desk and I had to hand over my passport and wallet to ck in staff tobe put in safe and locked up by them with a key given to me .they should at least have a private room when lockup your things so nobody else can see it. street noise no air conditioning makes a noisy night.limited room service.

I chose this hotel as I wanted somewhere special to stay for our wedding anniversary. A 4 star hotel in London seemed ideal . But the Grange Strathmore turned out to be a real disappointment. The pictures on the website are very misleading as is the information about the rooms. When you enter the hotel, the first thing you see is a once-grand Victorian building now with wallpaper hanging off walls and threadbare carpets in the hall and lounge areas. We stayed in room 112 which is a very grand room with 3 huge Victorian windows and a balcony. This was supposedly a superior room but was actually a family room with 3 beds. Paying the extra money for a superior room, I had expected bathrobes and a huge bed, maybe some chocs or flowers as it was our anniversary. What we got was a very small double bed with the worst mattress in the world, I could feel the springs through the sheets. The decor in the room was nice and there was coffee and biscuits but the bathrooms really disappoint. On the website, they are described as marble. Well, in reality here is not one bit of marble in them. The floor tiles are cheap vinyl designed to look like marble,and the bath and shower look like they were installed in the 1980s. The wall tiles are cracked and the worktop badly fitted, not what I expect from a 4 star London hotel. My husband and I were kept awake by constant water flowing through pipes all night, so had to change rooms the next day, a real hassle. The new room was slightly smaller as was the bathroom and closer to the main road and therefore noisier. The mattress was just as lumpy as the previous one, not conducive to a good night's sleep.

The staff are all foreign, clueless and not overly friendly. Not many smiles, they didn't appear to enjoy their jobs. When we checked in on Fri at 2pm, our room was not ready. We were kept hanging around with no explanation. Eventually, when I hassled the receptionist, she admitted there had been a fire in the hotel that morning and as a result, the cleaning schedule had got behind. Why not say so immediately? A little customer training is definitely in order here.

On the Sat morning, we awoke to find no hot water. My husband went down to reception to complain and was told the boiler had broken down. He was not offered any compensation, it was only on checking out on the Sunday morning that I discovered other guests had been offered a free breakfast by way of apology. Nobody had offered this to us. I was angry and complained to the manager who eventually agreed to a discount of 20% off the cost of that night's accommodation. I was not satisfied with this as breakfast at the hotel costs around £22 per person, but eventually had to settle for a free bottle of wine instead. What a lot of hassle for what should have been a lovely romantic weekend. I would certainly not recommend this hotel to anyone. The only positives were the bar prices, small glass of wine £2.95, cheaper than local pubs, and the central location - very easy to get around, near the tube and buses and lovely buildings all around. Also close to Kensington Park.

We ate out for breakfast due to the hotel's exorbitant food prices. Try the Met Bar along Gloucester Road, trendy, friendly and nice food, they also have all the day's newspapers available. For dinner, there is also a good Italian on Cromwell Road. For cakes to die for, the patisserie near the tube station is excellent.